Jumbo 1175

Author   mohn2Posted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
I thought this was quite a tricky puzzle because of the surfeit of (to me) unusual vocabulary – there were several answers where I took minutes to figure out and trust the wordplay, but which were no doubt write-ins to other solvers. The fact that two of these unknown answers were clued via anagrams did not increase my enjoyment of the puzzle. No doubt coincidentally, the main cryptic that Saturday also contained a swathe of recondite words.

Solving time: 31m 24s

dd = double definition, * = anagram, cd = cryptic definition, {} = omission

Across
1 SUBTENANT – SUB-{lieu}TENANT, where “lieu” is a French word for “place” and sub-lieutenant is a junior officer rank
6 MACON – MAC ON, i.e. wearing a macintosh, though I’m struggling to see how this passes the substitution test. Wikipedia seems to suggest that Macon is better known for its whites than its reds, but Chambers has: “A heavy red or white burgundy”
9 PASSATA – PASTA (typical Italian food) around SA (it)
13 AHEAD – HE (man) in A + AD (notice)
14 CLEAR UP – dd
15 STAIRLIFT – ST (way) + AIRLIFT (how Berlin was once supplied)
16 HOT PROPERTY – dd, the first literal
17 BELL-BOTTOMS – homophone of BELLE’S (Attractive girl’s) around BOTTOM (part of body)
18 UNEVEN – NEVE (mass of ice) inside UN (one in Chamonix, i.e. a French word for “one”)
19 UNTOWARD – dd, the first fanciful (i.e. UN-TOWARD)
21 EXHUME – EX (old) + HUME (philosopher)
25 BEEFED-UP – BEE (Work meeting) + FED UP (bored)
26 DOLCE FAR NIENTE – (INDECENT LOAFER)* A strained semi-&lit, “helpfully” incorporating an anagram. An Italian phrase meaning pleasant idleness. I spent ages on this and it was only when I had all the checkers that I had to scrap the assumption that it was an English expression with “for” in the middle. DOLCE then jumped out at me and NIENTE rang a bell. A bit of Googling tells me I would have known this if I’d watched (or, presumably, read) Eat, Pray, Love.
28 ADOPT – initial letters of Amusements, Despairing Of Popular Television
29 BANANA – BAN (to put a stop to) + ANA (gossip). A reference to a hand of bananas.
30 ANTIPODEAN – TIP (recommend) + ODE (poem), inside A + NAN (relative)
33 DYER’S BROOM – (MY BORDER SO)* A type of genista, which itself appeared in that day’s main cryptic. Another one that had to wait until all the checkers were in, as I assumed incorrectly it was going to begin with DERBY.
35 SWITCH – {atrociou}S + WITCH (speller)
36 CRUET – CRU + ET (French words for “wine” and “and”). As an altar boy in my youth, I tend to associate this word with church rather than the dining table.
38 NO HARD FEELINGS – dd, the second literal
40 PLEASANT – PLEAS (Requests) + ANT (soldier, perhaps)
42 ATONAL – ATON{e} (Make up for not finishing) + A + L{ock}
43 TRILEMMA – TRI{a}L (Case not a) + EMMA (novel). Similar to a dilemma but with three choices rather than two.
44 ADORED – reversal of DERO{n}DA, a reference to the Eliot novel Daniel Deronda. Easier to biff than to derive from wordplay, as there’s no DBE indication plus this is perhaps Eliot’s fifth best-known work, with roughly half the Google hits that even DOLCE FAR NIENTE has.
47 AT THE DOUBLE – (LEO + HEADBUTT)*
50 SCREENSAVER – SCREEN (Check) + SAVE (but) + R
52 MANGANESE – MANGA (Comic book, in particular Japanese and aimed at adults) + SEEN*
53 TRIPLET – TT (dry) around RIP{p}LE (ice-cream half-heartedly). I suppose three kids could constitute a “large” family.
54 INNIT – reversal of TINNI{tis}
55 HEARSAY – EARS (Some corn) in HAY (grass)
56 KAYAK – reversal of YAK (beast of burden) + A + K
57 AUSTERELY – RELY (Bank) by AUSTE{n} (novelist finally failing)
Down
1 STASH – T inside SASH (ribbon)
2 BEEN THERE DONE THAT – (THEATRE THEN BED ONE)* Again, the sense is clear but I’m not sure how this passes the substitution test.
3 ENDORSEMENT – (NEED MONSTER)*
4 ACCEPT – reversal of PEC (muscle) inside ACT (performance)
5 THE BRONX – T{a}X but with the A (area) replaced by HEBRON (Holy Land city). Quite a complex clue for one of the five boroughs of New York.
6 MERRY-GO-ROUND – MERRY (drunk) + O inside GROUND (stadium)
7 CAPABLANCA – homophone of CAP A BLANKER. A reference to the Cuban widely regarded as one of the greatest chess players of all time.
8 NASAL – NASA (Spacemen) + L{ed}
9 PLAY BY EAR – PEAR (fruit) around LAYBY (drivers’ rest area)
10 STRETCH LIMO – (LET MOST RICH)*
11 AMIGO – A + MIG (fighter (aircraft)) + O
12 APTEST – {c}AP + TEST (Try)
18 UPBRAIDING – PUB* + RAIDING (attacking)
20 DEFINITE – DE (the lower classes, in the NRS demographic classification used in the UK) + FINE (sensitive) around IT (sex)
22 MONTEZUMA’S REVENGE – cd, referencing the Aztec king who was subjugated by the conquistador Cortes, for the slang expression for traveller’s diarrhoea. As per RP, equivalent to the Tijuana cha-cha, Aztec two-step, etc.
23 DURBAR – URBA{n} (of city cut short) inside DR (doctor). A word I didn’t know, defined by a word I didn’t know either – levee in this case means a reception of visitors, rather than an artificial embankment.
24 REINSTATED – STATED (said) after REIN (control)
27 INDOLENT – IN LENT (before Easter) around DO (party)
31 INHALE – IN (Not leaving home?) + HALE (Healthy)
32 SWAGGER STICK – WAGGERS (People shaking (!)) in S + TICK (seconds). Chambers: “A short military cane”
34 STRANGEWAYS – STAYS (Guys, in the sense of ropes) around RANGE (wander) + W (women’s), for the Manchester prison
36 CLANDESTINE – LAND (estate) inside ENTICES*
37 DILIGENTLY – GENTLY (Not being forced) after reversal of I + LID (one cover-up)
39 FULSOMELY – FULLY (Entirely) around SOME (a few)
41 UMBRELLA – hidden in tUMBREL LAdy’s
45 WARMTH – WAR (battle) + M (medium) + TH{e} (short article)
46 FETTES – F (Fine) + reversal of SETTE{r} (I … shortly), for the public/private school in Edinburgh attended by Tony Blair and James Bond. I knew this because of having the hots for a Fettes alumna when I was at university, but it did make me wonder at what point on the continuum of school famousness do we reach obscurity.
48 TONGA – TOGA (Old clothing) around N (new)
49 BREAK – dd, the second referring to games such as snooker
51 RATTY – dd, the second referring to the character from The Wind in the Willows

8 comments on “Jumbo 1175”

  1. I don’t time my Jumbos any more but I recall that this one was the trickiest for quite some time, and I needed aids to get DOLCE FAR NIENTE.
    1. Once again, G & S to the rescue:
      This gentleman is seen
      With a maid of seventeen,
      A-taking of his ‘dolce far niente’,
      And wonders he’ll achieve
      For he asks us to believe
      She’s his mother–and he’s over five-and-twenty!
  2. 40m. I enjoyed this puzzle immensely, because all the unknown words (and there were lots) were (just about) gettable from the wordplay. However I was greatly assisted by knowing the expression at 26ac, and I think this is one that shouldn’t have been clued with an anagram. I have always wondered if this phrase is responsible for the English expression ‘sweet Fanny Adams’, and the more vigorous expression from which it is (I believe) euphemised.
    ‘Red’ for MACON is a real stretch. The region is known overwhelmingly for its whites, which make up over 90% of production. It would be more appropriate to describe Bordeaux as a white. The Chambers definition is doubly weird as these wines are typically lighter than their equivalents from the Côte d’Or.

    Edited at 2015-11-14 12:00 pm (UTC)

  3. “…. but it did make me wonder at what point on the continuum of school famousness do we reach obscurity.” Right here, obviously.
    I found this tough going all the way through, though for the most part, my unknowns, such as DYER’S BROOM were gettable from wordplay.
    Particularly liked THE BRONX for structure.
  4. I can’t remember if I put something in at 46d, but it was a de facto DNF; never heard of this famous school. (I think my list ends with Gordonstoun.) DNK STRANGEWAYS, but I think that was the agent murdered at the beginning of ‘Dr No’; anyway, it looked vaguely familiar once I had all the checkers. I think this is the 2d recent reference (or allusion) to ‘Daniel Deronda’; I suppose ‘Romola’ is on its way. ANA seemed like a stretch for ‘gossip’. I would have guessed that SFA started life as FA, gained the S, and then was euphemized to the sweet lady, and all this independently of the Italian phrase; but then I guess wrong a lot. As at 46d.

    Edited at 2015-11-15 05:35 am (UTC)

    1. I don’t have any evidence to support my speculation, other than the fact that ‘sweet’ strikes me as a bit of an odd word to use to describe ‘FA’. But thinking about it we say ‘sweet nothings’, so perhaps it’s not odd at all.
    2. Familiar to ’80s music fans because of the Smiths’ album “Strangeways, Here We Come”, but otherwise perhaps of a Fettesian level of obscurity.
  5. Funny that some English words are used more outside England than in it, DURBAR is common in Ghana when traditional elders meet. (and lndia)(Ong’ara, Kenya)

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